Empowering CBEMR Ambassadors and Strengthening the MAP CBEMR Network.
May, 2019)
The Mangrove ActionProject (MAP) has been promoting and working on Community-Based Ecological
Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) with coastal communities along the Andaman Coast
since 2012. A group of communities have
gathered together as an informal network calling themselves the “CBEMR Network”. On the 20th to 22nd of
April, 2019 the second workshop on “public speaking and presentation skills”
was held in Krabi Province for fifteen CBEMR ambassadors from five of MAP’s CBEMR
communities representing three provinces in Southern Thailand: Trang, Krabi and
Phang-Nga. The three day workshop was
facilitated by a professional instructor, Khun Wara Chaitap, from Chiang
Mai. This training was a follow up workshop for the
Facilitation Skills workshop held in May 2018. The workshop aimed to strengthen
the participants’ skills on how to share and present CBEMR experiences and
lessons learnt with outsiders especially from the government sector. As most of the CBEMR community
representatives regularly host and attend meetings and workshops, there are
opportunities for them to deliver their experiences confidently. MAP believes that it is a very important
strategy for local peoples’ voices to be heard and their role to be recognized
not only through their practices but also through their presentations when they
have opportunities. From previous work on
CBEMR with local communities we have learnt that CBEMR methodology also assists
to highlight indigenous knowledge to be used as a significant input into the
work. An example on the value of indigenous knowledge is the local’s people
observations and suggestions on species selection to help the natural
regeneration and the solutions on hydrology adjustment at the restoration site.
The
workshop was designed to have participants construct the content and plan group
work on CBEMR experiences and practices, followed by practicing presentations.
The workshop instructor added tips on general rules for public speaking. Background
information on community mangrove management and the CBEMR process, such as
community mapping, timeline, photos and table of activities, was introduced at
the workshop. Tips on public speaking were
discussed and learned through the Body Scan session (please
see in the photo 2) which included the basic needs and rules for being a good presenter. The participants worked as a group and helped
each other to improve while practicing.
A very
important session was requested and included as part of the workshop. This was a
session on the simulation of a CBEMR network meeting during which the
participants spent almost three hours to draw out the
CBEMR network including goal and mission, main objectives and main
activities. The representatives presented
the discussion output to MAP and the trainer.
The significant points of the CBEMR network were
how members can move both CBEMR and livelihoods forward sustainably by
themselves, following the end of MAP’s projects in the next several months.
a reflection on what participants had gained from the workshop and how this
workshop encouraged and boosted up their energy to work together as a
network. The intermediate action after
this was the next CBEMR network was planned and agreed to be held at Klong Gum
(Klong Lu) in June 2019.
Again we would like to
convey a huge thanks to Lush: Fresh Handmade Cosmetics for their support for
this successful workshop!
